This letter follows an earlier letter sent by Baharav-Miara to Knesset Legal Advisor Sagit Afik on Wednesday about concerns regarding the conduct of Knesset parliamentary committees.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the guise of exercising the Knesset\u2019s oversight powers,\u201d she wrote, \u201claw enforcement agencies are invited to discussions concerning specific investigations and are even required to provide information and documents relating to ongoing criminal proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t Baharav-Miara reiterated that such conduct is \u201can abuse of the Knesset\u2019s oversight power, and does not align with the principle of separation of powers.\u201d<\/p>\n She argued that these practices are deeply harmful and are being used to influence pending criminal proceedings, obstruct investigations, and deter public servants from fulfilling their roles.<\/p>\n Such behavior harms \u201cthe independence of law enforcement agencies and the entire public service \u2013 a cornerstone of a functioning democracy,\u201d according to Baharav-Miara.<\/p>\n At least one of the impetuses for the attorney general\u2019s letters appears to be a Knesset National Security Committee discussion held last month by chair MK Zvika Fogel (Otzma Yehudit), concerning Supt. Rinat Saban, a high-ranking officer in the Police Investigations and Intelligence Division, over her obtaining legal representation from the good-governance organization Movement for Quality Government.<\/p>\n Fogel held the committee discussion despite Afik\u2019s strong opposition. In a November letter addressed to him, the Knesset legal advisor said that her office has long advised Knesset bodies to refrain from holding discussions on ongoing legal proceedings, to avoid undue influence.<\/p>\n \t She further noted that Fogel\u2019s inherent conflict of interest in holding a discussion \u201cregarding legal representation received by a certain officer against the Chairman of your faction in a case that is still pending raises concerns that the committee will be perceived as a tool for political attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and head of Otzma Yehudit party, has for months been blocking Saban\u2019s promotion<\/a> to the rank of chief superintendent, despite having signed off on it in December 2024, due to her testifying against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in court in his corruption trial last year.<\/p>\n Saban has petitioned the High Court over the matter, and Ben Gvir\u2019s actions have earned sharp criticism from Baharav-Miara and Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levy, who has requested that the court grant him permission to go over the minister\u2019s head and promote Saban.<\/p>\n The second issue that the attorney general addressed in her letters is the increasingly abusive and threatening rhetoric directed towards representatives of legal institutions in Knesset committee discussions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not uncommon for inappropriate and utterly unacceptable remarks to be leveled by Knesset members against [public servants] during discussions, and especially against the Prosecutor\u2019s Office,\u201d Baharav-Miara wrote.<\/p>\n This includes \u201chumiliating and degrading statements, violent and threatening language,\u201d which she said is no longer exceptional but \u201croutine.\u201d In many cases, she added, the committee chairs either fail to intervene or even lead such behavior themselves.<\/p>\n \t Threatening rhetoric toward public servants by parliamentary committee members has surged over the past year. Most notably, earlier this month, Likud MK Moshe Saada threatened<\/a> Baharav-Miara\u2019s deputy, Gil Limon, during a heated Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee discussion over a coalition bill to divide the attorney general\u2019s role, amid ongoing attempts to remove Baharav-Miara and limit her authority.<\/p>\n Saada, addressing Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon directly, said, \u201cYou sit in front of me with a smile, and in your place once sat the deputy military advocate general and the military advocate general \u2014 also with a smile \u2014 and you know where they are today. You know exactly where they are today, and you, Gil, will end up in the same place.\u201d<\/p>\n Former military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi<\/a> resigned in October after admitting that she had authorized the leak of a surveillance video showing alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility.<\/p>\n Tomer-Yerushalmi was released this week from the hospital, where she spent more than a month after an apparent suicide attempt via overdose.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tMK Zvika Fogel leads a National Security committee meeting at the Knesset, on November 18, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F251117YS341-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tNational Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads an Otzma Yehudit faction meeting at the Knesset on November 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DUAL-3-640x400.jpeg\")
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\n\t\tL-R: Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon at a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset, December 9, 2025; Likud MK Moshe Saada, seen yelling at Limon at the meeting. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n
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